The Warlord by Gena Showalter (free ebook reader for pc .txt) 📕

idea what to make of it. All he could do was marvel. The unflappable Taliyah Skyhawk had been flapped. “We’re cuddling, not pleasuring.” He had some things to figure out first.

“I’m not so sure about that. Mmm. You smell good enough to eat,” she said, her voice thicker. She stiffened. “Uh, I should go.” Something tinged her words. Panic? “I need to go immediately.”

Leave him? No. Now that he held her against him again, her cool skin warming, he refused to let her go. “Tell me why you wish to flee, and I’ll consider letting you go.” Before I decline your request.

“Flee?” She balled her hands and beat on his chest. “You take that back! I do not flee. Ever.”

“Then settle in and get comfortable. We’re having a real conversation. We can discuss what occurred between us.”

“What? No! Dude. No. Don’t ruin this.” Bit by bit, she relaxed against him. Whatever had hurt—or spooked?—her no longer seemed to be a problem. “Nothing happened but a momentary truce. Tomorrow, we return to business as usual. Meaning, yes, you’ll stomp around like a drama queen, making decrees that I’ll ignore, and I’ll learn how to kill you.”

Roc heaved with relief—not a whole lot of irritation. “I’m glad you understand how things must be between us.”

Must? He was a god. Powerful. A creator of worlds. So he and his men had tried to find other ways to escape the blessing and curse. So they’d found none. Why must the sacrifice roll on? This marriage was different. Shouldn’t the ending be different, too?

Thinking like Solar?

“Understand?” Taliyah snorted. “Warlord, I’m demanding it.”

In all the worlds Roc visited, he’d encountered no one quite like Taliyah. Even now, in the warmth of his arms after four—five?—orgasms, she wouldn’t bend. “How are you not General yet?”

Her little claws curled into his chest as she petted him, and he knew the question pleased her. “Apparently my own sacrifices suck. Even the arm and leg I once amputated on purpose. Did I receive my star? Nooo.”

“Why did you offer an arm and a leg?”

“Haven’t you heard the old adage about giving an arm and a leg? Well, I had a dagger, so...”

Bad form to discuss your past brides with the current, yet he told her, “Chaos hinted that I’ve made mistakes with my sacrifices, as well.”

“What happens when you make the right sacrifice?”

“I ascend for the second time.” He needed to ascend to have a family. Could he have a family without his gravita? Here, now, with Taliyah pliant and curious, he thought he...wasn’t sure. “I will kill Erebus for good.”

She braced, as if expecting a blow. Why?

“Hey, the alevala are moving again,” she mumbled, resting her cheek on the hollow of his shoulder.

“They stopped?”

“While we were busy negotiating our...one-night truce.”

She didn’t know what to call what they’d done, did she? Good, because he didn’t, either. It hadn’t been sex. He’d had every type of sex imaginable, but this had been...better.

“That happens when I’m lost in anhilla.” To his knowledge, the alevala had never stopped due to arousal before.

“That was anhilla? Don’t take this the wrong way, but I didn’t expect your most fearsome state to mimic horniness.”

“You’ll know anhilla when you see it. I destroy every foe in my vicinity without thought, mercy or regret.”

“Okay, stop with the sexy dirty talk if we’re not going to fool around again.” She tapped the spot above his heart. “Stains are growing here. What’s that about?”

Tension overtook him in an instant. To distract her from the question, he reached out to clasp behind her thigh and heft her partly atop him. With her sex resting against his and her face cradled against his throat, he said, “Tell me more about you.”

She went rigid before struggling against him. “I really should go, Roc.”

Why did she keep doing this? “Tell me what’s wrong.”

“You just...you smell so good.” With a moan, she softened. She ran her nose up his neck, just as he’d done to her, gyrating against him.

As he cupped her backside, she wrenched from his arms and sat up—not before he caught a glimpse of her face.

Black lines branched from her eyes.

19

“I’m leaving, and that’s that.” Taliyah raced around the room, gathering weapons. “Don’t try to stop me.”

She’d known she’d played with fire. Hunger clawed at her. She’d gone two days without a meal or even a snack. In the past few hours, she’d met and threatened her father, experienced incredible pleasure at the hands of the husband planning to murder her, received an official dismissal from said husband immediately afterward, showered and cursed his name, then enjoyed a royal welcome back into the strong embrace she’d craved more than she would ever admit.

She scowled, angry with herself, with Roc. With Erebus. Her emotions had been through the wringer, squeezed within an inch of their lives.

What she and Roc had done... The satisfaction she’d tasted in his arms warred with the uncertainty. She felt as though she’d finally stored the mysterious parts of her life in the same box. A puzzle she had only to complete in order to make herself whole.

What was she to do about this man? What was she to do about her starvation? Ignoring her hunger pains ceased being an option.

Five days was the longest she’d ever gone without a proper meal. At the time, she’d been trapped in a desolate realm devoid of life. By day four, she’d felt as if she were dying. By day five, she’d wanted to die.

No reason to panic. This was only day two, and she already had a banquet lined up. All will be well.

With daggers in hand, she rushed to the door. Roc appeared directly in front of her, blocking the exit. Too late to slow. She slammed into him. Only the hard clasp of his hand on her nape prevented her from ricocheting. He used his free hand to disarm her and lock her body against his.

The fingers on her nape inclined her face to the light.

She kept her